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1)>i>  )--JH 


Nt\J  Vj  Vj 


BBIHSTTS  FOR  BXJKTCOMBE. 


A 


SERMON 

DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE 

UNITARIAN  SOCIETY, 


BILLERICA,  MASS, 

JULY  4,  1858. 


BY  NORWOOD  DAMON. 


PUBLISHED  BY  REQUEST. 

BOSTON: 

CROSBY,  NICHOLS  &  C  0 . 


M  DCCC  LVIII. 


< 


/ 


+JC 


301,173 

Df%l 


SERMON. 


1st  CORINTHIANS,  S,  9. 

“TAKE  HEED  LEST  BY  ANY  MEANS  THIS  LIBERTY  OF  YOURS  BECOME  A  STUMBLING 
BLOCK.” 

To  day  is  the  Anniversary  of  our  National  Indepen¬ 
dence.  As  this  year  it  occurs  on  Sunday,  it  may  not  be 
inappropriate  to  recognize  it  in  our  accustomed  minis¬ 
trations.  It  is  the  82nd  Fourth  of  July  since  the  one 
succeeding  that  memorable  19th  of  April,  when  Sam¬ 
uel  Adams,  wrapt  in  prophetic  visions  of  the  independ¬ 
ence  and  future  greatness  of  the  American  Colonies 
exclaimed,  “what  an  ever  glorious  morning  is  this.”  It 
was  an  ever  glorious  morning,  and  it  is  still  a  glorious 
day,  yet  it  is  not  all  sunshine,  as  the  hours  advance 
towards  the  noontide,  dark,  frowning  clouds  appear,  they 
portend  the  possibility  at  least  of  the  whirlwind,  tornado 
and  storm. 


4 


The  views  of  our  revolutionary  fathers  in  regard  to 
liberty  were  correct.  It  is  desirable,  very  pleasant,  to 
be  free,  as  free  as  air,  and  it  is  a  sufficient  eulogium 
upon  the  theory  of  our  government  to  say,  that  it  designs 
for  each  individual  all  the  liberty  and  rights  compatible 
with  the  equal  liberty  and  rights  of  others.  Absolute 
liberty  is  an  impossibility,  at  least  in  organized  society. 
It  must  have  its  limits  and  restrictions  fixed  and  regu¬ 
lated  by  law.  For  example,  we  cannot  have  liberty  to 
dictate  our  neighbor,  make  him  manage  his  affairs  ac¬ 
cording  to  our  will  and  not  his  own,  take  his  property, 
or  destroy  his  life.  All  this  and  more,  a  powerful  sav¬ 
age  with  weapon  in  hand  might  do,  but  we  must  submit 
to  authority  on  every  side,  even  in  the  most  minute  and 
trivial  affairs  of  every  day  life. 

The  law  tells  us  what  and  how  we  may  buy  and  sell, 
it  weighs  our  weights,  measures  our  measures,  balances 
our  balances,  and  takes  decided  measures  to  balance 
accounts  with  us  if  they  are  found  wanting ;  it  tells  us 
where  we  may  light  our  matches  and  smoke  our  cigars, 
what  we  shall  and  shall  not  eat  and  drink,  and  both 
male  and  female,  how  and  wherewithal  we  shall  be 
clothed  ;  it  commands  the  landlord  to  cut  off  his  accom¬ 
modating  tap  that  made  himself  and  the  public  smile, 
and  empowers  the  state  to  keep,  mix  and  drink  its  own 
potations.  The  law  inspects  our  wine-pipes,  smoke- 
pipes,  steam-pipes,  gas-pipes,  water-pipes,  and  sometimes 
compresses  our  windpipes  ;  tells  what  vessels  shall  be 
used  at  sea,  and  what  on  shore ;  regulates  our  imports, 
exports,  transports,  seaports,  port-wine  and  the  port-holes 


5 


of  our  ships;  our  currency,  politics,  morals  and  religion. 
If  we  live  in  a  city,  it  even  tells  us  when  we  husk  our 
green  corn,  what  must  be  done  with  the  refuse,  and 
when  we  shell  our  peas  where  we  must  put  the  pods. 

In  fine,  there  is  scarcely  an  interest  of  civilized  life, 
or  great  or  small,  domestic,  social,  public  or  private, 
concerning  which  the  law  has  not  an  act  entitled  an 
act,  supplementary  to  an  act,  entitled  an  act  in  addition 
to  an  act,  entitled  an  act  to  regulate,  restrict,  abolish, 
prohibit,  encourage,  amend,  promote,  extend  or  improve 
it  in  some  respect  or  other,  and  men  everywhere,  all 
and  singular,  are  commanded  to  know  by  these  presents, 
that  they  are  under  control,  and  to  regulate  themselves 
accordingly  ;  and  also,  that  all  other  acts,  and  sections  of 
acts,  or  parts  of  sections  of  acts,  inconsistent  with  this 
act  are  hereby  repealed,  and  therefore  said  acts  and 
parts  of  acts  are  no  longer  in  force  ;  or  as  Sheridan  has 
it,  “  First,  comes  in  a  bill,  imposing  a  tax;  and  then 
comes  in  a  bill  to  amend  the  bill  that  imposed  the  tax ; 
and  then  comes  in  a  bill  to  explain  the  bill  that  amend¬ 
ed  the  bill  that  imposed  the  tax ;  next  a  bill  to  remedy 
the  defects  of  the  bill  that  explained  the  bill  that 
amended  the  bill  that  imposed  the  tax,  and  so  on  ad 
infinitum ,”  after  the  style  of  “  The  House  that  Jack 
Built.” 

Like  the  ten  virgins  of  the  parable  some  of  these 
laws  are  wise  and  some  are  very  foolish,  though  it  may 
be  questioned  whether  the  proportions  are  exactly  half- 
and-half;  but  by  submission  to  them,  imperfect  though 

1# 


6 


they  be,  we  pay  cheaply  for  the  protection  and  advan¬ 
tages  of  civilized  and  organized  society. 

We  could  not  then  have  a  much  better  government, 
or  liberty,  in  this  imperfect  state  of  being,  than  we  now 
possess, — that  is  we  white  folks  of  course  I  mean, — for 
in  this  peculiarly  enlightened,  Christian  and  consistent 
age  and  land,  if  a  man  is  so  absurd  as  to  be  born  black, 
what  can  he  rationally  expect?  he  must  take  the  re¬ 
sponsibility  of  his  own  construction  of  the  paper  that 
declares  that  “  all  men  are  born  free  and  equal he 
will  probably  live  to  learn  that  all  is  not  gold  that  glit¬ 
ters,  that  there  is  a  pickwickian  sense  to  that  document, 
— that  we  meant  it  slightly  for  buncombe. 

In  some  respects  our  glorious  spread-eagle  republic 
too  much  resembles  the  republics  that  have  already  ex¬ 
piated  their  sins  by  death  and  oblivion  ;  we  use  a  great 
many  resonant  words,  but  frequently  they  are  “vox  et 
prceterea  nihil”  or  as  we  render  it  in  English  “  glitter¬ 
ing  generalities.  ” 

Compared  with  the  other  nations  of  the  so  called  civ¬ 
ilized  world,  we  are  blessed  with  a  very  tolerable  free¬ 
dom,  but  unfortunately  it  often  happens  that  men  are 
incapable  of  appreciating  or  preserving  their  choicest 
blessings.  The  greatest  good  abused  may  become  the 
greatest  evil ;  it  was  Absalom’s  beautiful  hair,  whose 
rank  luxuriance  he  unduly  fostered  and  gloried  in,  that 
held  him  up  a  target  for  Joab’s  darts.  To  the  very  ig¬ 
norant  and  unprincipled  liberty  is  only  a  stumbling- 
block,  that  makes  confusion,  anarchy,  and  strife. 

Every  nation  if  it  would  prosper,  or  even  long  exist, 


7 


must  have  strength  somewhere,  either  in  its  government 
or  in  the  wisdom  and  virtue  of  its  people.  France, 
lacking  the  latter,  gave  up  her  republic  and  inaugurated 
a  despotism.  Mexico  has  neither,  and  what  is  she  ?  a 
confused,  bloody  mob,  sinking  rapidly  back  to  barbar¬ 
ism  ;  a  disconsolate  Jonah  waiting  to  be  swallowed  up 
by  the  great  and  “  ever  glorious  ”  whale  of  these  United 
States ;  and  when  we  swallow  her,  I  fear  she  will  prove 
so  much  too  much,  for  our  powers  of  digestion  and  as¬ 
similation,  that  we  shall  gladly  spew  her  up  again. 
With  eight  million  souls  she  could  not  resist  Gen.  Scott, 
who  with  less  than  twenty  thousand  men,  took  her  very 
capital ;  so  imbecile  and  degraded  is  a  republic  without 
intelligence  or  virtue. 

And  how  is  it  with  our  republic,  freedom’s  forlorn 
hope,  and  the  grand  Mogul  of  all  the  republics, — how  is 
it  in  regard  to  intelligence  and  virtue  ? 

In  regard  to  intelligence ,  I  had  arranged  for  this  oc¬ 
casion  a  full  and  important  series  of  statistics  from  court 
and  county  records  and  other  reliable  sources,  as  col¬ 
lated  by  that  champion  of  education,  the  Hon.  Horace 
Mann.  These  statistics,  though  gathered  a  few  years 
ago,  are  more  favorable  to  us  than  those  of  a  still  later 
date ;  such  has  been  the  influx  of  the  tide  of  ignorant 
foreign  emigration  and  other  counteracting  influences  to 
the  efforts  of  the  friends  of  education. 

By  these  statistics  it  appears  that  in  several  states 
nearly  a  fourth  part,  and  in  some  counties  a  third  part 
of  the  adult  population  can  neither  read  or  write.  In 
those  states  and  counties,  a  quarter  or  third  part  of  the 


UNIVERSITY  OF 
ILLINOIS  LIBRARY 
AT  URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 


8 


young  men  applying  for  marriage  licenses,  instead  of 
recording  their  names,  can  only  make  their  mark.  “  It 
would  be  preposterous  55  says  Mr.  Mann,  “  to  suppose 
that  their  intended  wives  had  gazed  at  the  splendors  of 
science  from  any  nearer  point  of  view.55 

Much  as  I  regret  it,  a  reasonable  brevity  compels  me 
to  omit  these  statistics,  though  they  deserve  to  be  read 
and  pondered  well  by  every  American  statesman  and 
citizen  who  can  read.  I  will  however  quote  one  pas¬ 
sage  of  comments  upon  them  from  Mr.  Mann,  and  with 
that  dismiss  the  topic  of  the  intelligence  of  our  republic. 

“  There  has  not  been  for  years  past,55  says  Mr.  Mann, 
“  and  there  cannot  be  for  years  to  come,  an  election  of 
a  President  from  any  party,  or  a  Congress,  or  with  per¬ 
haps  the  exception  of  the  New  England  States  a  Gov¬ 
ernor,  chosen  under  written  constitutions,  and  to  act 
and  legislate  under  written  constitutions,  whose  choice 
will  not  be  dependent  upon,  and  determined  by,  legal 
voters  who  are  unable  to  read  or  write,  voters  who  do 
not  know  and  cannot  know  whether  they  are  voting  for 
king  log  or  king  stork. 

“  The  illustrious  band  who  framed  the  Constitution 
of  the  Union,  Washington,  Adams,  Franklin,  Jefferson, 
Madison, — who  adjusted  all  the  principles  which  it  con¬ 
tains,  by  the  line  and  the  plummet,  and  weighed  the 
words  which  describe  them  in  scales  so  nice  as  to  trem¬ 
ble  beneath  the  dust  of  the  balance — these  noble  men, 
expended  the  energies  of  their  mighty  minds  to  perfect 
an  instrument,  which  before  half  a  century  should  pass 


9 


away  was  doomed  to  be  administered,  controlled,  and 
expounded  by  men  unable  to  read  or  write. 

“The  power  of  Congress  over  all  the  great  social  and 
economical  interests  of  this  vast  country,  the  orbits  in 
which  the  states  are  to  move  around  the  central  body 
of  the  system,  the  functions  of  the  executive,  who  holds 
in  his  hands  the  army  and  the  navy,  manages  all  diplo¬ 
matic  relations  with  foreign  powers,  and  can  involve 
the  country  at  any  time  in  all  th^  horrors  of  war,  and 
that  grand  poising  power,  the  supreme  judiciary,  ap¬ 
pointed  to  be  the  presiding  intelligence  over  all  the  sys¬ 
tem,  to  harmonize  its  motions,  and  to  hold  its  attracting 
and  divergent  tendencies  in  equilibrium, — all  this  splen¬ 
did  structure,  the  vastest  and  wisest  ever  devised  by 
mortal  man,  is  already  at  the  mercy,  and  at  any  time 
may  come  under  the  control,  of  men  who  are  incapable 
of  reading  one  word  of  the  language  which  describes  its 
framework  and  defines  its  objects  and  its  guards ;  inca¬ 
pable  of  reading  one  word  of  cotemporaneous  exposition, 
antecedent  history,  or  subsequent  development,  and 
therefore  are  ready  to  make  it  include  or  exclude  any - 
thing ,  as  their  blind  passions  may  dictate ;  such  are  the 
men  who  hold  the  balance  of  power  in  these  United 
States.  #  Phseton  was  less  a  fool  when  he  mounted  the 
chariot  and  attempted  to  drive  the  horses  of  the  sun, 
than  ourselves,  if  we  expect  to  reach  the  zenith  of  pros¬ 
perity  and  happiness  under  influences  such  as  these/5 

Thus  much  substantially  from  Mr.  Mann,  and  thus 
much  for  the  intelligence  of  our  proud  and  boastful  re- 


10 


public  in  this  latter  half  of  the  enlightened  nineteenth 
century. 

And  now  comes  the  question  of  her  virtue.  The 
general  virtue  of  our  country  is  easy,  decidedly  too  easy. 
Let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  I  am  speaking  of  our  coun¬ 
try,  not  of  any  particular  locality ;  with  local  difficulties 
that  concern  neither  the  general  public  nor  myself  I 
have  nothing  to  do,  especially  when  unacquainted  with 
the  merits  of  the  questions  at  issue ;  in  such  matters  I 
prefer  to  adhere  closely  to  the  know-nothing  party. 
Our  country,  her  sayings,  doings,  and  principles,  it  is 
these  that  I  call  in  question  this  day. 

We  have  many  good  men  and  true  in  all  parties,  and 
in  every  department  of  public  and  private  life,  men  who 
would  not  for  their  right  hand  compromise  a  principle, 
who  love,  and  are  willing  faithfully,  devotedly  to  serve 
their  country  and  their  God,  who  would  be  as  true  to  a 
neighbor,  or  a  stranger  even,  as  to  their  own  child,  all 
the  ends  they  aim  at  are  patriotic,  disinterested,  good. 
Wealth,  office,  fame,  cause  no  purturbations  in  their 
principles  or  actions.  And  we  have  many  noble,  in¬ 
dependent  journals,  some  even  among  the  strictly  party 
press. 

It  needs  however  but  a  glance  at  the  party  papers,  a 
slight  acquaintance  with  our  legislative  bodies,  owr  great 
men,  so  called,  our  political  morals,  our  gloomy,  dyspep¬ 
tic,  acrid,  hollow,  uncharitable,  sectarian,  fossil  theology, 
which  the  late  great  revival  has  failed  to  wholly  vitalize 
and  christianize,  to  show  that  the  general  public  virtue 
is  easy.  Money,  lust,  place,  power,  influence,  fame, 


11 


self-will,  manifest-destiny,  and  the  extension  of  the  area 
of  a  light  complexion ed  style  of  liberty — these  are  our 
Gods,  to  which  we  daily  offer  the  morning  and  evening 
sacrifice,  for  these  we  hazard  all ,  our  religion,  our 
country,  its  union,  its  real  freedom,  its  dearest  interests 
and  institutions,  and  the  hopes  of  our  posterity, — and 
frequently  we  bring  all  to  the  very  verge  of  ruin. 

What  to  us  is  the  blood  of  martyred  heroes,  our 
father’s  blood,  their  tears  that  watered  the  tender  tree 
of  liberty,  what  are  all  the  holy  remembrances  of  the 
revolution,  what  is  any  sacred  thing,  that  it  should  draw 
us  from  our  allegiance  to  our  Gods  ? 

Money  is  the  richest  power,  and  can  buy  up  all  the 
rest,  therefore  money  is  the  supernal  deity.  John  Ran¬ 
dolph,  graphically  termed  the  “  eloquent  screech  owl,” 
spoke  of  certain  of  our  public  men  as  being  animated 
by  seven  principles,  namely,  five  loaves  and  two  fishes. 

Look  at  the  political  party  newspaper — overflowing 
with  patriotism,  zealous  beyond  conception  for  certain 
principles  and  measures  vital  to  the  country’s  being, 
earnest  for  the  people’s  good,  entirely  self-sacrificing  and 
disinterested,  with  willing  contributors,  ready  and  eager 
at  a  moment’s  warning  to  crawl  on  hands  and  knees 
from  the  north  pole  until  their  hair  is  combed  by  the 
surging  of  the  remotest  antarctic  ice,  with  only  a  brief 
pause  midway,  say  at  Mount  Popocatapel,  just  to  rest 
a  moment  and  enjoy  the  tonic  influences  of  the  crater , — 
and  all  this  for  the  dear,  very  dear,  dear  people. 

But  how  happens  it  that  this  model  sheet,  this  ency¬ 
clopedia  of  the  philanthropies.,  can  never  see  a  good 


12 


thing  in  the  opposite  party ,  especially  daring  a  presi¬ 
dential  campaign  ?  Why,  in  any  instance,  though  with 
all  his  might  he  tries  to  avoid  it, — why,  by  the  merest 
accident,  cannot  its  opponent  blunder  into  the  truth 
once  in  a  great  while  ?  Why  is  it  invariably  all  right 
on  one  side  and  as  invariably  all  wrong  on  the  other  ? 
Why  is  one  party  infallible  and  the  other  not  ?  Why  is 
one  allowed  to  use  a  conscience,  be  it  ever  so  elastic,  to 
act  from  conviction  and  principle,  with  the  privilege  of 
thinking  for  itself,  while  the  members  of  the  other  are 
condemned  as  guilty  hypocrites  for  exercising  the  self 
same  liberty — for  thinking  and  acting  independently  for 
themselves. 

Charity  would  suggest  that  there  may  be  some  truth, 
honesty,  and  wisdom,  and  that  probably  there  is  more  or 
less  of  error  on  all  sides.  Why  then  should  there  be  such 
bitterness  between  individuals,  parties  and  political  pa¬ 
pers,  as  for  instance  so  fearfully  characterized  the  last 
presidential  campaign  ?  frequently  making  bitter  enemies 
of  next  door  neighbors,  and  affording  a  reasonable,  mod¬ 
erate  man  no  chance  whatever  for  peace  or  comfort, — 
in  fact,  in  most  places  there  was  little  safety  for  a  man 
unless  he  was  stark  mad  on  one  side  or  the  other. 

What  is  the  solution  of  all  this  ?  The  answer  is 
clear, — filthy  lucre,  the  itching  palm,  John  Randolph’s 
seven  principles,  these  are  the  roots  of  the  mischief. 
The  paper  must  tickle  the  party,  that  the  party  may 
tickle  the  paper.  It  is  a  mutual  aid  and  admiration 
affair ;  and  the  paper  and  party  must  denounce  all  dis¬ 
senting  papers  and  parties,  individually,  collectively  and 


13 


indiscriminately,  without  regard  to  truth  or  justice ;  and 
why  ?  simply  because  the  five  loaves  and  two  small 
fishes  are  at  stake. 

We  have  a  popular  morality  that  teaches  that  some 
sins  are  not  sins,  while  other  sins  are  exceedingly  sinful ; 
there  is  still  a  prevalent  feeling  that  “  all  is  fair  in  poli¬ 
tics,”  especially  when  defeat  stares  us  in  the  face  and 
in  lingo  politico  gramatico ,  “  our  sufferings  is  intolera¬ 
ble.”  A  lie  in  these  things  is  truth  to  the  party,  if  a 
judicious  one,  well  told,  well  stuck  to,  and  that  brings 
in  votes  like  doves  to  their  windows,  just  as  an  ex¬ 
change  of  hats  is  no  robbery,  if  we  get  a  better  one, 
and  to  steal  an  umbrella  in  a  drenching  storm  is  the 
highest  form  of  honesty  ;  even  lying  for  a  religious  party 
is  frequently  justified  by  saying  that  it  is  to  help  a  good 
cause,  by  the  dogma  that  the  end  sanctifies  the  means ; 
and  that  by  other  parties  besides  the  scarlet  lady  who 
made  a  seven  legged  stool  of  ancient  Rome. 

And  so  as  a  nation  we  go  on,  tampering  with  our  ex¬ 
cellent  institutions,  periodically  lashing  the  multitude 
into  a  perfect  frenzy  and  fury  of  excited  and  angry 
feeling,  fomenting  and  prolonging  party  discords,  both  in 
politics  and  religion,  dragging  everything  however  irrel¬ 
evant  or  sacred  into  our  controversies,  sparing  no  man’s 
feelings,  personal  interests,  or  good  name,  but  making 
all  bitter  as  aloes,  wormwood  and  gall. 

The  general  aim  seems  to  be,  not  to  elicit  truth,  and 
really  promote  the  interests  of  our  country,  but  rather 
individual  self-aggrandizement  and  the  aggrandizement 
2 


14 


of  our  party,  that  through  it  we  may  be  personally  pro¬ 
moted  and  built  up — even  perhaps  until  we  reach  the 
presidential  chair,  an  honor  it  would  seem  more  to  be 
coveted  than  the  highest  seat  in  heaven.  Hence,  we 
accomplish  comparatively  nothing,  succeed  in  none  of 
our  grand  reforms,  settle  no  principles,  establish  no  per¬ 
manent  national  policy ;  but  only  succeed  in  keeping 
the  whole  nation  in  a  perpetual  foment.  To-day  one 
fever  rages,  to  be  rapidly  supplanted  by  another  to-mor¬ 
row  ;  it  is  panic  politics,  panic  business,  panic  money- 
pressure,  panic  religion  by  panic  revived,  panic  morality, 
panic  reforms,  and  panic  everything,  to  the  end  of  the 
chapter. 

Agitation !  it  is  our  trade,  our  life  ;  by  it  and  in  it  we 
talk  and  walk  and  have  our  daily  being ;  out  of  it  we 
could  no  more  breathe  than  the  fish  in  upper  air.  We 
never  mean  to  settle  anything.  Kansas  is  not  our  only 
perpetual  nightmare  and  perennial  tribulation ;  it  is  neither 
the  alpha  nor  omega  of  our  alphabet  of  woes.  From 
and  before  the  Hartford  Convention,  in  spirits  or  in 
fossil,  we  have  preserved  them  all,  to  use  as  our  political 
infirmities  require.  From  time  to  time,  like  regular 
periodicals,  we  bring  them  out  and  give  them  air ;  the 
last  edition  ever  fresh  and  new ;  we  have  always  some 
available  homebred  fireside  horror,  some  gory  monster 
in  gorgon  terrors  clad,  some  flaming  serpent  from  his 
fiery  mane  shaking  down  pestilence,  incendiary  tracts, 
and  free  discussions  of  our  peculiar  institutions,  or  some 
lovely  female  opening  for  our  comfort  a  Pandora’s  box 
of  woman’s  rights.  We  are  never  at  fault  for  favorite 


15 


discords  and  pet  bones  of  contention,  and  plenty  of 
them;  and  it  has  not  been  the  fault  of  any  party  if 
they  have  not  all  proved  immortal. 

We  feel  that  it  would  not  do  to  settle  things  honora¬ 
bly,  righteously,  reasonably  and  seasonably,  because  if 
we  did,  Othello’s  occupation  would  be  gone.  We  play 
upon  a  harp  of  thousand  strings,  and  manage  to  keep 
some  of  them  in  vibration,  if  not  in  tune,  without  cessa¬ 
tion  ;  so  we  march  to  music,  and  many  are  compelled 
to  face  the  music  all  the  time. 

We  elect  a  President  and  Congress  with  fiery  enthu¬ 
siasm,  and  no  end  of  torch-light  processions,  banners 
and  transparencies, — as  if  the  whole  thing  were  not 
transparent  enough  from  the  beginning,— at  an  expense 
of  time,  money,  and  animal  magnetism,  that  beggars  us 
all,  in  purse  and  soul,  for  at  least  a  year  to  come,  simply 
to  do  work  for  the  next  President  and  Congress  to  undo 
and  repeal ; — and  when  we  have  no  presidential  election 
at  hand,  no  fierce  sectarian  religious  excitement  or  em- 
broglio,  no  fillibustering  expedition  to  Cuba,  Mexico, 
Nicaragua,  or  the  rest  of  mankind,  and  have  thrown  off 
Mons.  Belly  as  altogether  too  much  abdomen  for  our  de¬ 
bilitated  Central  American  digestive  apparatus,  when  we 
have  no  immediate  hope  of  foreign  or  domestic  war,  no 
fresh  gouts  from  bleeding  Kansas’  wounded  side,  and  the 
dissolution  of  the  Union  is  positively  postponed  until 
another  session  of  Congress ;  when  we  have  no  choice 
morsel  of  tittle-tattle,  no  noted  public  character  to  lay 
out  and  dissect  with  the  knife  and  scalpel  of  scandal, 
fio  ministerial  delinquency,  no  adultery,  divorce  case,  or 


16 


incompatibility  of  disposition,  no  gallant  Blount  Zouave 
De  Rievire,  De  Dean  Mac  Mary  Ann  La  Boker,  or 
Dorcasina  Sheldon,  no  flogging,  shooting,  stabbing  affair, 
or  startling  murder  to  absorb  our  effervescence  ;  or  when 
these  popular  devilments  become  so  common  that  they 
are  no  longer  luxuries,  and  we  cease  to  enjoy  our  mur¬ 
ders  with  our  accustomed  zest,  and  minor  crimes  are  a 
drug  in  the  market, — then,  just  for  a  change,  a  tit-bit 
and  a  relisher,  we  institute  a  Vigilance  Committee  in 
New  Orleans  or  San  Francisco,  or  indulge  in  the  lux¬ 
ury  of  a  free  Plug-Ugly  riot  in  New  York,  Philadel¬ 
phia,  or  the  capital  of  our  nation. 

So  we  culminate.  Five  loaves  and  two  fishes  for  our 
constitutional  and  climatic  avarice,  a  rough  and  tumble 
fight,  and  a  gratuitous  defiance  of  all  law  and  order, 
as  a  tribute  to  our  largest  Bunker  Hill,  Yorktown  and 
Saratoga  liberty.  Such  is  an  over-true,  though  not  a 
sunny-side  view,  of  the  universal  Yankee  nation,  each 
of  whom,  in  person  or  by  proxy,  has  fought,  bled  and 
died  for  liberty,  and  of  which,  with  all  their  follies,  I 
rejoice  to  say  that  I  am  one. 

No  wonder  that  good  and  considerate  men  here  have 
their  doubts  and  fears,  as  well  as  their  high  hopes,  and 
look  forward  with  some  troubled  forebodings  to  our 
country’s  future,  as  the  wise  father  is  filled  with  painful 
anxieties  for  the  fate  of  his  favorite  but  wayward  son ; 
and  no  wonder  that  the  Napoleons,  the  Czars,  the  King 
Bombas,  and  other  audacious  tyrants  of  Europe,  look 
on  our  extravaganzas  with  a  satisfaction  so  transparent 
that  it  is  hardly  disguised,  and  with  eager  expectation 


17 


are  awaiting  the  hour  when  the  grand  explosion  and 
closing  tableaux  shall  appear. 

If  our  professed  patriots  and  Christians  of  all  parties 
labored  with  a  hearty  good  will,  not  for  sect,  but  to 
raise  up  and  relieve  the  down-trodden,  the  sorrowing, 
the  ignorant,  and  the  poor ;  if  they  tried  in  real  earnest 
to  promote  the  prosperity  and  best  good  of  our  country, 
if  they  loved  her  as  Washington,  or  as  La  Fayette 
the  stranger  did,  or  as  Wallace  and  Bruce  loved  Scot¬ 
land  ;  if  all  our  strong-minded,  out-spoken,  lady  poli¬ 
ticians  and  warriors  loved  these  United  States,  and  were 
willing  to  dare  and  suffer  for  them  as  Joan  of  Arc  did 
for  her  beloved  France — were  they  like  the  patriot 
heroine  who  melted  into  bullets  the  ware  that  held  her 
daily  bread  and  sent  her  young  and  favorite  son  to  war, 
anticipating  the  sentiment  of  Miss  Bremer  in  her  heart, 
“  To  die  on  the  battle  field,  fighting  for  one’s  dear 
country,  O  that  would  be  sweet !  ” — were  our  patriot 
population  composed  of  men  and  women  such  as  these, 
there  is  not  a  star  in  glory  but  would  pale  before  the 
brightness  of  this  Republic. 

But  it  is  sadly  true  of  the  great  majority  of  our  so- 
called  patriots  and  Christians,  that  they  seem  to  have 
not  one  particle  of  sympathy  or  aid,  one  glow  of  patriot¬ 
ism  or  philanthropic  feeling,  for  any  poor  lost  souls  who 
happen  to  be  out  of  the  pale  of  their  own  particular 
little  communion. 

Under  the  seven-principled  creed,  on  one  side,  our 
national  shield  displays  the  great  and  true  men  of  all 
2* 


18 


parties  couchant ,  on  the  reverse  the  little  fishes  the 
rogues  and  demagogues  rampant .  Under  existing  cir¬ 
cumstances,  parties  cannot  afford  a  strictly  righteous 
man  his  full  and  proper  influence ;  he  is  not  reliable 
when  dirty  but  necessary  party  work  is  to  be  done  ;  his 
tender  mercies  are  not  sufficiently  cruel.  “  Our  party, 
right  or  wrong,  and  however  bounded,55  is  not  his  im¬ 
pulsive  watchword,  and  of  course  he  is  not  the  man  for 
the  times,  no  matter  how  great  or  noble  he  is,  he  is  not 
available,  he  has  no  gutta  percha  in  his  conscience,  lie 
cannot  be  president,  no  !  he  must  die  without  the  sight. 

Proudly  as  our  fathers  founded  this  republic,  famously 
as  we  have  thus  far  reared  it  up,  exalted  as  it  has  be¬ 
come  among  the  nations,  there  is  some  real  danger  that 
it  may  by-and-by  be  broken  into  insignificant  fragments 
— danger  that  like  the  ancient  republics,  like  Greece  and 
Rome,  as  we  become  more  and  more  prosperous,  we 
may  become  so  licentious,  unprincipled,  ignorant,  and 
careless,  as  to  be  unworthy  our  liberties  and  institutions, 
and  incapable  of  maintaining  them.  When  liberty  runs 
into  licentiousness,  anarchy  follows,  and  it  becomes  a 
stumbling-block  over  which  a  people  fall  into  despotism. 

But  there  is  a  brighter  side  to  this  picture,  though  it 
has  taken  so  long  to  examine  these  dark  groups,  that  I 
have  no  time  to  present  it  now.  Our* case  is  by  no 
means  desperate.  No  nation  can  be  stronger,  happier^ 
or  more  glorious  than  we  yet  may  be,  if  in  future  we 
will  be  faithful  to  ourselves.  All  our  varying  interests 
may  be  made  to  harmonize,  our  social,  religious,  politi¬ 
cal  and  individual  sins  be  repented  of,  removed,  and 


19 


forgiven,  if  we  will  but  bring  intelligence,  principle, 
good  will,  charity,  a  spirit  of  conciliation  and  accommo¬ 
dation,  and  true  patriotism,  into  our  public  and  private 
councils,  and  as  a  people  cultivate  lives  of  practical 
virtue. 

But  if  in  God’s  might  we  are  to  be  our  own  salvation 
and  the  conservators  of  the  world’s  freedom,  we  must 
be  alive  and  awake  ;  “  eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of 
liberty  !  ”  we  must  cherish  generous-religious,  brother- 
ly-christian  principles,  and  general  intelligence.  All 
our  children  must  he  educated ,  both  in  the  ways  of  sci¬ 
ence  and  of  virtue.  We  must  support  the  institutions 
of  learning  and  religion,  and  support  them  well  ;  repub¬ 
lics  without  these  things  have  been  tried,  and  misera¬ 
bly  failed. 

And  speaking  of  education,  pardon  me  a  momentary 
episode.  It  is  a  beautiful  arrangement  of  providence, 
that  frequently  when  a  man  is  what  we  count  dead,  he 
yet  more  than  ever  lives  and  speaks  to  bless  the  world. 
Your  late  fellow  citizen,  Dr.  Zadock  Howe,  I  am  told, 
was  a  valued  and  influential  townsman,  a  wise  counsel¬ 
lor,  true  friend,  an  original  and  ingenious  thinker,  — 
a  good  physician,  who  brought  balm  to  many  a  wound¬ 
ed  frame  and  spirit,  through  a  long  and  successful  prac¬ 
tice  in  Billerica.  But  what  matchless  sanative  that  he 
or  any  physician  ever  gave,  could  unfold  young  minds 
and  hearts,  and  do  the  miracle  that  his  school  is  work¬ 
ing  every  day?  If  he  was  a  blessing  while  on  earth, 
he  is  much  more  a  blessing  now,  and  in  coming  days 
he  shall  be  a  greater  blessing  still. 


20 


His  best  monument  is  not  in  the  church-yard,  nor  in 
yonder  beautiful  enclosure  with  its  fresh  bright  walls 
that  his  munificence  has  reared.  Anon,  when  those 
young  souls  are  men  and  women,  and  the  world  has 
found  in  the  riches  of  their  intellects  and  virtues  how 
much  it  owes  him, — then  shall  men  rise  up  and  call  him 
blessed,  and  build  him  a  monument  of  gratitude  in  their 
hearts,  whose  cap-stone  shall  reach  to  heaven  ;  and  it 
may  be  seen  not  only  that  in  his  death  he  accomplished 
more  than  in  all  his  life,  but  that  his  discriminating  be¬ 
nevolence  has  brought  forth  more  and  better  fruits  than 
all  the  other  institutions  of  Billerica  besides. 

The  present  occasion  is  both  rare  and  prolific.  The 
Fourth  of  July  does  not  come  on  every  Sunday,  and  in 
an  Independence  sermon  it  is  pardonable,  if  ever,  to 
wander  from  the  beaten  weekly  track,  the  hackneyed 
technics  of  the  pulpit,  and  preach  something  that  shall 
draw  people  out  and  keep  them  awake,  even  in  the  af¬ 
ternoon.  But  like  the  eccentric  Mr.  Harvest’s  pudding, 
even  such  a  sermon  is  after  all  a  sublunary  thing,  and 
of  course  must  have  an  end.  If  there  are  other  kindred 
thoughts  worth  treasuring,  with  Paul  they  must  go  their 
way  for  this  time,  and  until  the  year  rolls  round  again, 
then  if  there  is  a  convenient  season,  we  will  call  for 
them. 

We  have  all  heard  glorification  orations  enough  ;  it 
may  be  well  occasionally  at  least  to  offer  a  little  of  that 
rare  element,  unmitigated  truth,  some  of  our  country’s 
solemn  realities,  even  though  it  be  done  in  sportive  and 
satiric  vein,  the  better  to  fasten  them  in  the  memory. 


21 


But  to  conclude.  Shall  we  take  excelsior  for  our 
motto,  and  make  the  freedom  of  this  nation  the  glorious 
liberty  of  the  children  of  God  ?  or  shall  we  make  it  a 
stumbling-block,  and  fall  over  it,  and  finally  this  repub¬ 
lic,  the  last  hope  of  humanity,  fail  !  and  there  be  shut 
down  over  us  forever  an  unpitying  iron  despotism,  that 
shall  make  our  homes,  hearts  and  lives  as  barren  of  all 
enthusiasm,  enterprise,  hope  or  blessing,  as  are  the  priest- 
ridden  and  tyrant-ridden  masses  of  the  European  and 
Asiatic  worlds. 


